


Tryst In The Time Of Misery

by darklingtae



Category: bts, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Angst, Grandpa Taejin, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:22:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25422349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darklingtae/pseuds/darklingtae
Summary: An old dusty diary that no one misses,Torn photographs with edges all thrawn.Immeasurably loving midnight kisses.Rifles, Blood, and love begone.In which Taehyung recites a tragic goodnight story to his granddaughter, about the ruined love that a wealthy noble youth and a mundane military officer shared....
Relationships: Kim Seokjin | Jin/Kim Taehyung | V
Comments: 1
Kudos: 24
Collections: taejin bingo 2020 block party 1





	Tryst In The Time Of Misery

**Author's Note:**

> This is a work for #TaejinBlockParty  
> Prompt: Torn Photograph.  
> Turn off the lights, cocoon yourselves in some comforters, and snatch a bucket of popcorn.

**T** he torch lights flickered and came to a rest.

Later, the sirens started.

They realized it was the time.

The younger held onto his soiled uniform, refusing to let go of him. While the other shoved him towards his ally, watching them yank him away with a struggle. He could still hear his own wail, rough and throat-parching that fired through the dense smog, screaming his name, begging for him to stay. He could still see the flicker of love and affection that lit in his lover’s eyes as he observed him being lugged into the van. He could still feel his gentle embrace and the forehead kiss he gave before running away into the ashed horizon of bloodshed.

He remembers the stench of blood, the screams of dying men, the explosions of cannon shot. He remembers the squelching mud on which he was dragged upon, viewing the lifeless bodies of men that laid stranded as they brought him to a safer place. He remembers gazing out his window every night, waiting to see his mild silhouette to run into his arms.

.

.

.

Kim Taehyung sat on his wooden rocking chair with the fine ceramic cup of matcha, his faint wrinkles hanging loose as he gazed out at the window, observing the rain patter on it while gently swaying on his chair. His long strands of greying mullet hair hung down his nape, ending right at his collar. He took small sips from the cup, recollecting memories after memories.

Suddenly, swift hands concealed his eyes from the back. A gasp of pretend panic left his lips at the arrival of his granddaughter. “Who’s there! Is it a phantom?” A comical screech escaped his lips as he settled his teacup on the coffee table, winning a peal of cackles.

“Grandpapa!” Taehyung wrapped his hands around the young three-year-old, patting her head.

“ _Happy Birthday, grandpa!_ ”

She plopped down on his lap while hiding a small cotton rag behind her. Taehyung squinched his eyes playfully, pretending to be curious on what she was covering.

“ _Tada! Look what I found in the attic!_!”

Taehyung gasped dramatically before loosening the knots of the wearing out fibers.

The corners of his eyes quickly melted to draw in a vague expression as he drew out a brown dust-coated book. The tips of his weakening fingers traced the corners of the worn-out flakey papers that were now yellow and parched.

“ _STORY TIME_!” His grand daughter wiggled into a comfortable position, resting her head on his shoulder, gazing excitedly at the book she had discovered. She flicked her eyes back to his face to notice the sudden shift in his mood. He seemed lost, a mixture of confusion and an unexplainable emotion lingered in his face.

He gently curled over the page, flipping it carefully to see what it was. The pages were fragile, dusky and so weak that a scratch of nail would break it into flakes. Taehyung’s eyes unintentionally gazed up to the top left corner in a practice.

_**Saturday 14th July 1945** _

_**10:06 p.m.** _

_**Dearest Diary,** _

Frosty air hurled into his lungs as if he had just been in a six mile sprint. The small invisible bags around his eyes strained wide, letting them to read the ink.Taehyung felt like he almost skipped a of heartbeat at the realization. 

.

.

.

His heart thundered in his thorax as he finished the page. A quiet smile inched up his lips as he traced the ink of the paper. The words and phrases he used reminded him of his adolescence, and his inexperienced younger self. He let out a slight huff of glee at the tiny goosebumps that rose from his arms. So hidden in thought, he didn’t realize his daughter leaning from behind, hooting at her father.

“ _Happy Birthday, papa_!”

“Jinnayah!” Taehyung shook himself out of his thoughts as he held her arms that were draped around him.

“Eomma! Grandpapa will tell us a bedtime story!”

“Do you ever age?” She snorted at her father, who appeared the same as when she saw him last year.

“I thought we could pay a small visit,” His daughter bit her cheeks as she rolled her raincoat on her hand before seating herself beside him. She leant down on her father’s shoulder as she closed her eyes in his tender welcome. Taehyung quickly gasp before getting on his feet.

“Oh! I haven’t prepared supper yet! God! I thought porridge would suffice and I-“

his daughter chuckled before pressing her father in his seat again.

“I have wrapped the supper for all of us,”

.

.

.

The slow patter of the rain arose the smell of petrichor that slipped through the window of his bedroom. Taehyung laid on the bed, still clutching onto the diary. He closed his eyes at the warmth that he received from his children, who cuddled with him on the bed.

“Tannie found it in the attic, I had accidently packed it while shifting,” She whispered as she ruffled her daughter’s hair who binged on her pasta, sitting on her mother’s lap.

“Don’t you want to read it?” Taehyung shook his head with a smile, tenderly glancing at his granddaughter as he spoke. “Sometimes, you can appreciate things only once, there is no point in looking back,”

“You never told me about appa and you, it was always about how you lost him,” Taehyung’s eyes quickly sunk, his smile faded into thin air. Jinnayah wrapped her arm around his as she drew the spoon of rice to her mouth. He gently flipped a random page to find scattered damaged photographs with cracked edges that stuck to the pages with wax. A feeling of nostalgia crept up his skin as he picked up one of them, gazing at the browned photo of the moon.

.

.

.

Taehyung held onto the older’s shoulders as he adjusted his posture on his lap, who sat on the grass after clicking a picture of the moon with the new camera he had just been gifted with. The older had met his way up Taehyung’s back, running his fingers down his skin, under his tunic.

“You’re my moon, and it would be my first every picture,” The older chuckled as he listened to him.

“Someone is blooming with romance,”

He replied as Taehyung tightened his hold on him before brushing his nose against his, playfully giving him Eskimo kisses. Their eyes were half-lidded and fixed, staring long and lovingly at each other as they embraced.

“What if they find out?”

“Aish, they will not, I’ll die before they do anyway,” Taehyung hit his lover’s shoulder who giggled at his grim humor.

“How many times do I have to tell you to stop saying that!” Taehyung susurrated with anger as he hit his cheek gently, showing the other it wasn’t funny anymore. “Sorry,” The other crept out a smile with the corner of his lips curving downwards as an apology.

Taehyung frowned angrily, yet resting his head on the older’s chest.

“Are you scared, Jin?” He held onto Taehyung’s head tighter as he let out a soft chuckle, before kissing his forehead long and hard.

“I’m petrified,” Jin replied with a faint smile, caressing the younger’s thigh before staring into his brown orbs that shone wistfully in the moonlight.

.

.

.

Taehyung had not realized that he had been out of the world the whole time and was only reminded by his granddaughter’s laughter. He looked lost, as if he had just woken up from a decade long slumber. Jinnayah held his pale hands before playfully rubbing on it.

“Someone revive the broken time machine, my father is stuck back in the 1940s,”

“Grandpapa! I asked you to tell us a story!” Tannie pouted as her mother wiped the pasta cream that smeared on her chin.

“There was once a nineteen-year-old,” The duo of mother and daughter crept closer to him, relaxing their body to prepare themselves for the story.

“He was rich, naïve and innocent, stuck in his own fantasy world,”

“And there was a man,” A smile arose from Jinnayah’s lips.

“He was strong, extremely handsome, and well known for his patriotism,” Tannie rested her cheeks on her hands as she listened to him enthusiastically. “They fell in love, but they shouldn’t have,”

“Why, grampa?” Taehyung caressed the young girl’s head.

“They weren’t supposed to. One was rich while the other belonged to middle class, and…” Taehyung paused, being unable to process it out.

“They were both men,”

.

.

.

“No, Seokjin,” Taehyung pushed away from the other who closed their personal distance.

“Someone might see us,” Seokjin pressed his forehead with his, ignoring his rant. He pushed him into the dry grass that seemed to shimmer in the darkness. Taehyung’s thick hair fanned around his head as he laid. Surprise blurred his eyes. The stars were quickly out of sight and were replaced by a body that hovered above his.

“What are you doing!” Taehyung tried to push him away, panicking on what would happen if they were caught now. His hands were of no use, Seokjin’s head was already nuzzled into his neck, sniffing the scent of his expensive perfume that always radiated from him. Taehyung bit back his moan and sighed as he clutched his shoulder, trying to pull him off.

“No one’s here,” Seokjin whispered in his ear, kissing his neck to feel his shudder.

“It’s just you and me,”

He whispered before kissing down his clothed torso to reach the hem of his tunic, rucking it up to bury his face in his milky abdomen. Taehyung’s hands pushed him away before leaping away from him. Seokjin sat on his knees as he watched the other look around in panic.

“No…”

Taehyung whimpered before watching the other get on his feet. His eyes widened as he walked away from him.

“No, Jin, wait!” Taehyung belted out, hurrying towards him to stop.

“You wanted me to stop and leave, someone is always watching us apparently,”

“You can’t just leave me like that!”

“What are you afraid of? Getting caught? Being punished by death for loving? It’s not like you will be punished anyway, it’s always the not-very-rich ones,”

Taehyung’s lips parted at what the other uttered, tears swelling up into his eyes again as he watched him in disbelief. Jin clenched his jaw as he looked away, not daring to watch his beautiful lover cry. Soon slight whimpers bloomed into sobs, breaking and audible. Jin felt long arms around his waist, soon turning into a whole embrace, tears soaking his coat as the younger cried into his chest.

“I hate you,”

Seokjin’s lips huffed out an inaudible chuckle as the other muttered while hugging him tighter. Jin caressed his head before feeling his lips tremble with sobs against his neck.

“Hush, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t hav-“

Taehyung quickly pushed him away only to pull him by his collar, locking his lips with his. His lips feathered up and down on his before biting on them. Jin pushed him down to the grass once more, bringing him the peace he thought no one to achieve.

.

.

.

Taehyung stirred at the thought of it. He gazed at his granddaughter, who fiddled with her overlong hair in boredom.

“It’s okay grampa, go back to dreaming,”

She rolled her eyes as she cuddled up her mother’s neck with a wide grin. Jinnayah carefully pulled off a ziplock from her backpack and handed it over to her father. Taehyung furrowed his eyebrows at the torn photograph of him he never knew existed.

He was young and beautiful, laying down in the grass posing for the photograph.

“Wow papa, you have changed little by the looks, I wish you were my actual father,” Jinnayah looked at the forty-five-year-old who paid no attention to her.

“Where did you get it from?”

“It’s okay, papa,” Jinnayah rested her head on his shoulder, giggling furiously with excitement. Taehyung raised an eyebrow at his granddaughter as she took out a fairy wand that she was gifted with on her first birthday.

“What do you wish for, grampa, it’s your birthday!” Taehyung chuckled as he shrugged, still gazing at the old photograph.

“I don’t know,”

“Ugh! Make it quick grampa! My magic won’t last for long!” “I wish for my family to live for long and with me forever,”

Taehyung gazed into her small doll eyes that looked at him with disbelief. Jinnayah winked at her daughter. She quickly hid his eyes with her palms.

“What is it, Jinnayah?” .

_“Would I be considered as part of your family, Sir Kim?”_

Her hands untied to reveal a man in his late forties, yet looking incredibly younger.

He sauntered slowly towards him with hands tied back.

Taehyung knew those gestures.

His fingers gently pulled up his chin.

Taehyung knew those fingers that gently pulled up his chin.

His lips curved into a quivering smile. 

Grey eyes brimmed with tears blurred his vision.

Yet everything seemed so clear.

It was clear that they had no tryst to be hidden, nor no misery to suffer anymore.

**The End**

****


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